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January 5, 2026

Consolidated Flooring and Chicago Women in Trades Are Reshaping Construction Together

Consolidated Flooring’s Kristy Burlingame (left) and Michelle Heron-Means

A partnership rooted in authentic commitment shows what’s possible when companies move beyond checking boxes to creating real pathways for women in the trades

When Consolidated Flooring of Chicago began bidding on the Obama Presidential Center, they encountered something different from typical diversity requirements. The project’s “spirit” called for meaningful partnerships, not just paperwork. That’s when Executive Vice President Kristy Burlingame and Director of National Engagement and Talent Leadership Michelle Heron-Means discovered Chicago Women in Trades—and found an organization that matched their own conviction that meeting diversity goals isn’t about compliance, it’s about changing how construction gets done.

Q: How did your partnership with Chicago Women in Trades begin?

Kristy: “When we were bidding on the Obama Presidential Center, the requirements were more meaningful than the typical ‘would you like to be a sub’ approach. It was about creating mentor-protégé strategies and making a real impact. We connected with Chicago Women in Trades through the Lakeside Alliance’s community outreach program (they served as the construction manager on the project) and the relationship just took off.

For years, I’d been frustrated by hearing that women don’t want to work in flooring—that the work is too hard on backs and knees. I knew that wasn’t true. When CWIT engaged with us, I thought, ‘let’s prove this isn’t just a man’s trade.’

What made it click was that CWIT came to a PFIA (Professional Flooring Installers Association) meeting and said, ‘We exist, we want to help you with community outreach for the Obama Library.’ I immediately reached out. They kept responding, wanted to help, and we could see the difference they were making. Other organizations might have great programs, but CWIT was the one that kept showing up.”

Q: What does the partnership look like in practice?

Michelle: “We bring students into our office for conversations about what Consolidated Flooring does, then our project managers take them to active job sites. They spend the day walking through Chicago, seeing what a real project looks like, meeting project executives and general contractors, and asking questions. Afterward, I take them to lunch, and we talk about what they really thought—what surprised them, what they liked, what they didn’t.

I’ve never had a project manager turn down these visits. Even when they’re busy, they’re excited to show off their projects and talk with students. It’s rewarding for everyone.”

Kristy: “These experiences are critical because this industry is as much about who you know as what you know. We’re not just trying to convince them to enter flooring—we’re exposing them to the entire field. If someone sees the painters and gets curious, we can connect them. Now they have one more person to call if they’re in a job they’re not loving and don’t know where else to turn.

The mentoring and guidance Michelle provides is what doesn’t happen early enough for girls. They don’t get that insight or that encouragement. Having those relationships matters.”

Q: How do you approach meeting diversity goals as a business?

Kristy: “When we’re bidding a job, and they list all these requirements—thirty percent for this, twenty-five percent for that, or X amount of women—I just say: ‘Whatever your diversity goals are, check yes for all of them. There’s nothing we need to discuss. There’s nothing we can’t meet or do. Just say yes to everything.’

We’re the only ones sitting in interviews saying that. Everyone else is saying, ‘Well, if the union doesn’t have them, I don’t know if we can get them.’ We don’t need to find other people to recruit because we have CWIT helping us. That’s the difference. And at this point, it doesn’t feel that special anymore because we should all be doing this anyway.

A lot of the individuals working on the Obama project we found through CWIT. They just happen to be women. But see them as local, skilled individuals. Sometimes I’m on the job site, and I see women working, and I think, ‘Oh right, these mechanics are women.’ It’s become that natural.

What’s also interesting is bringing people who live near the project to work on the project. We have a Google map showing the locations of all our installers. If we’re doing a job in Rockford, we’re not sending someone from Indiana. The Obama project helped us get even more micro about this—finding mechanics nearby, training them across different flooring types, then keeping them working on projects in their communities.”

“We’re all trying to help get business, build relationships, make sure the world’s a better place, see the right people doing the work we’re proud of and being rewarded for it.”

-Michelle Heron-Means

Q: What makes Chicago Women in Trades different as a partner?

Michelle: “I didn’t know that CWIT existed, and that immediately caught my attention. An organization training women who want to be in carpentry, in the field—I loved that. What drew me was that CWIT has great teachers, they’re learning real things, and they’re being prepared for a path that will have challenges. I want more organizations like that.”

Kristy: “CWIT brings us resources we truly need. When we’ve had to call and ask, ‘What do you think about this? How would you approach that?’ Those conversations are meaningful. The business people and attorneys can say things, our construction partners can say things, but having CWIT as someone we can bounce ideas off of, bringing us new tools they’re learning about, like weaving diversity into our Toolbox Talks instead of just annual training—that’s expertise we lean on.

We don’t want inclusion to be discussed once a year in the mandated Illinois conference. We want it woven into daily conversation. CWIT helps us do that. Safety and diversity can’t be things you only think about during safety week.

The fact that CWIT considers us a partner is important to the construction community at large. It backs up what we say in scope reviews—when we tell people ‘don’t worry, we’ve got it covered,’ CWIT’s recommendation letter is in our packet showing we’re not full of baloney.”

Q: Are things really changing for women in construction?

Michelle: “Yes, things are absolutely changing, because women like Kristy and I are pushing for that change. But it can’t stop with us. I tell women in our office, you have to educate the girls coming in after you. When it stops, all this work disappears.

There are still challenges in the field—women’s washrooms, access to tampons, basic things that aren’t really happening. I talk to women on job sites who have to walk around forever to find these things. We need more women in representation who can be voices for young girls who might be uncomfortable having those conversations. But it is getting there.”

Kristy: “When I started at 19, there really weren’t many women anywhere—field, office, anywhere. When I’d go to job sites, people assumed I was the owner or the designer, not the flooring contractor. That’s changed dramatically, even just in the last 15 years.

The barrier of expectations about what women are supposed to do is melting away in tech and other fields. Construction is a much older industry, so it makes sense that it would take longer, but it’s melting away here, too.

Fifteen years ago, there weren’t that many women in leadership positions in the industry. Now, you go to a PWC (Professional Women in Construction) meeting, and many of the women are executives. In the office realm, that’s already happening. In the field, it’s definitely changing to a point where men are having to change how they communicate—not just with women, but with people of color and people of different sexual orientations.

Within the next 10 years, the way things are done here will become the norm rather than the exception. We’re not at the top of the rainbow yet—maybe we’re at 11 o’clock and in 10 years we’ll be at 2 o’clock. But we started in the negative, and I don’t think we’re 30 years away from real change. We’re already there. It’s just a small percentage that needs to grow.”

Q: What advice do you give to young women considering construction careers?

Kristy: “I don’t say anything different to women than I say to men. Construction is hard. It’s really hard no matter where you are. Emotions are flaring, and there’s a lot of money at stake, relationships to be had and broken. You’ve got to have thick skin. I wouldn’t tell a woman anything different from what I would tell a man.

If you want to work somewhere where it’s easy, this isn’t the place for you. But it’s exciting. Find your place where the hard work is something you enjoy, and just do it well.”

Michelle: “I agree. There’s nothing different that I’d say to a boy or a girl here. Maybe I’d tell girls to be aware of their surroundings, things like that, but nothing fundamentally changes whether you’re in construction or finance. You need to build a thick skin, and that will take time. I don’t want to differentiate between boys and girls because it’s hard for both.”

Q: What excites you about this work and partnering with CWIT?

Michelle: “I’m extremely proud of the work we all do. This is not a one-person job. Throughout our office, throughout our organization, it truly requires a team. We’re all trying to help get business, build relationships, make sure the world’s a better place, see the right people doing the work we’re proud of and being rewarded for it. We’re all coaches and mentors at different parts of our jobs, even when we may not think we are. I’d like to hope that what we’re doing here will resonate across our entire industry.”

Kristy: “We’re lucky to have requirements in Illinois and Chicago that allow us to do this work. A lot of places have goals and ideas, but in Chicago, there’s meat to this. I’m thankful for CWIT that they found a value in us and allow us to be a partner. The process is hard, and we don’t always know the right answers, but having CWIT as a resource to bounce things off of—that’s truly meaningful.”

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